Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The new Eiger Express gondola. Jungfrau Railways has included carbon dioxide reduction and energy ..

. [+] efficiency in the lift's specifications. Jungfrau Railways In picturesque Grindelwald, Switzerland, almost every discussion about sustainable tourism starts and ends with a glacier.

The Great Aletsch Glacier is the largest in the Alps, spread across 31 square miles of rugged granite mountains. And it's melting. In the terminal of the new Eiger Express, a gondola that whisks you to the historic cog railroad, there's an image of the Aletsch in 1850 and another one of the present day.

In the 19th century, the glacier covered most of the valley; now it has retreated to the top of the mountain. The black-and-white images are a stark reminder of how much Grindelwald has already lost — and of the urgency of becoming sustainable. "Sustainability is part of what we do — and actually, it has always been a part of what we've done," says Kathrin Naegeli, a spokeswoman for Jungfraubahnen , which runs the local trains and cableways.

Back in 1908, four years before completing the final phase of the railroad to the top of the iconic Jungfraujoch, the company built a hydroelectric plant in nearby Lütschental to supply green energy to the new train. Today, the newly refurbished plant with two large turbines powers trains, cable cars and ski lifts in the Jungfrau Region including the ones in and around Grindelwald. Grindelwald aspir.